Field
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus, a control method, and a program.
Description of Related Art
Image forming apparatuses form images on sheets with recording materials such as toner. Generally, the recording material is stored in a storage unit such as a cartridge. In some instances, the image forming apparatuses may detect a remaining amount of the recording material in the storage unit to display the detected amount on a display unit such as a user interface (UI).
Conventionally, the image forming apparatuses include sensors. Such a conventional image forming apparatus displays an amount of a recording material detected by the sensor as a remaining recording material amount. However, in consideration of the cost, there are many cases where the image forming apparatus employs a sensor that cannot achieve favorable detection accuracy until the remaining amount becomes relatively small. In such a case, the sensor discretely detects the remaining recording material amounts of 100%, 20%, and 0%, for example. As a result, the remaining amount of the recording material is discretely displayed at, for example, 100%, 20%, and 0% on a display unit.
On the other hand, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2006-343621 discusses an image forming apparatus using a technique for seamlessly displaying a remaining toner amount on a display unit in spite of the use of a sensor which discretely detects a remaining amount. For example, when the image forming apparatus forms an image, a predicted value of a remaining toner amount is calculated based on a dot count value of raster data, and the resultant value is displayed as a current value of the remaining toner. When the image forming apparatus acquires a value of the remaining toner amount from the sensor, the current value is updated with the sensor value.
However, the sensor may falsely detect the remaining toner amount due to a limited capability of the sensor or affected by a level of the remaining toner amount. Consequently, the false remaining toner amount may be notified by the sensor which is significantly different from the actual remaining toner amount, as a sensor value. In this case, when the current value is updated with the sensor value, the current value does not come close to the actual remaining toner amount, and significantly deviates from the actual remaining toner amount. As a result, the value significantly deviating from the actual remaining toner amount is displayed on a display unit, and thus such a display confuses a user.